Camilo Golgi

• Camillo Golgi was born in
July 1843 in Corteno, he
studied medicine at the
University of Pavia,
where he attended as an
'intern student' the
Institute of Psychiatry
• Golgi also worked in the
laboratory of experimental
pathology directed by Giulio
Bizzozero, a brilliant young
professor of histology and
pathology. Bizzozero
introduced Golgi to
experimental research and
histological techniques, and
established with him a
lifelong friendship. Golgi
graduated in 1865 and was,
therefore, a student during
the last years of the fights
for the independence of
Italy
• Golgi
started
his
scientific career in 1869,
with an article in which,
influenced
by
Lombroso's theories, he
stated
that
mental
diseases could be due to
organic lesions of the
neural centers. However,
convinced that theories
had to be supported by
facts,
Golgi
soon
abandoned
psychiatry
and concentrated on the
experimental study of
the structure of the
nervous system
In 1872, due to financial
problems, Golgi had to
interrupt
his
academic
commitment, and accepted
the post of Chief Medical
Officer at the Hospital of
Chronically Ill
In the seclusion of this hospital, he
transformed a little kitchen into a rudimentary
laboratory, and continued his search for a new
staining technique for the nervous tissue. In
1873 he published a short note in which he
described that he could observe the elements
of the nervous tissue "studying metallic
impregnations... after a long series of
attempts . ". This was the discovery of the
Black reaction (reazione nera), based on
nervous tissue hardening in potassium
bichromate and impregnation with silver
nitrate.
• impregnates
a
limited number of
neurons at random
(for reasons that
are still mysterious),
and permitted for
the first time a
clear visualization of
a nerve cell body
with all its processes
in its entirety.
Hippocampus
impregnated by the
Golgi stain (from an
original preparation
from Golgi's
laboratory kept in
the Institute of
Pathology of the
University of Pavia).
• In 1875 Golgi published,
in an article on the
olfactory bulbs, the
first drawings of neural
structures as visualized
by the technique he had
invented. In 1885, Golgi
published a monograph
on the fine anatomy of
the
central
nervous
organs, with beautiful
illustrations
of
the
nerve centers he had
studied with his method.
• In the same year,
Golgi
returned
to
Pavia, where he was
appointed in 1876 as
Professor
of
Histology. In 1877 he
married Lina Aletti
(Bizzozero's
niece).
They had no children,
and adopted Golgi's
niece Carolina.
In 1906 Golgi
shared the
Nobel Prize
with Santiago
Ramón y Cajal
(1852-1934)
for their
studies on
the structure
of the
nervous
system.
The Nobel diploma Golgi received in 1906.
Golgi at the age of 77 in his laboratory in Pavia
• Golgi was dean of
the Faculty of
Medicine of the
University
of
Pavia, and rector
of this university
for several years .
He retired in 1918
but remained as
professor
emeritus at the
University
of
Pavia. Golgi died in
Pavia in January
1926
•
The Golgi Hall in the Museum for the History of the University of Pavia